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safety-critical

Guides DO-178C and DO-278A safety-critical software development with traceability, phase gates, and coverage rules.

Updated Jun 12, 2026
Search Tags:#verification#traceability#safety-critical#mc/dc#do-178c#avionics#do-278a
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/taylorelley/skills --skill safety-critical-taylorelley
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: safety-critical
Source: https://github.com/taylorelley/skills/tree/main/skills/engineering/safety-critical
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/taylorelley/skills --skill safety-critical-taylorelley

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill includes scripts (resource) and references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve? Safety-critical aviation software under DO-178C (airborne) and DO-278A (ground-based CNS/ATM) demands bidirectional traceability, phase-gate discipline, cumulative structural coverage, and independent verification — requirements that are expensive to retrofit and easy to get wrong. This Skill encodes that discipline so AI-assisted work on requirements, design, code, and tests produces standards-aligned draft artifacts instead of unverifiable output. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Three operating modes: CONSULT mode answers standards questions directly (assurance levels, MC/DC, independence, tool qualification); SETUP mode runs an interview wizard that generates a project AGENTS.md constitution from a template; DEVELOPMENT mode produces lifecycle artifacts within the project's assurance level and phase. - Machine-checkable traceability: Defines @req/@design/@test/@derived annotations and ships a trace_check.py script that finds orphan code, untested requirements, and dangling references. - Reference library: Covers assurance levels and objective counts, the 22 lifecycle data items, DO-330 tool qualification (including AI agents as Criterion 1 tools), DO-278A Section 12 COTS gap analysis, safety-critical C patterns, and phase-gate exit checklists. - Use Case: A team asks whether AL3 requires robustness testing in addition to statement coverage, then asks for an HLR and requirements-based test cases for a new ADS-B system requirement — the Skill answers the coverage question directly, then generates DRAFT-marked artifacts following the project's naming and traceability conventions. ## Quick Start Ask the agent to set up a new DO-278A AL3 project constitution, or ask a direct question such as whether DAL B requires statement coverage in addition to decision coverage.

Frequently Asked Questions about safety-critical

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
Does DAL B require statement coverage in addition to decision coverage?▼

Yes, structural coverage under DO-178C is cumulative: DAL B requires statement coverage plus decision coverage plus data and control coupling analysis. DAL A adds MC/DC and source-to-object traceability on top of those, rather than replacing them.

How do I set up a DO-178C or DO-278A project with this skill?▼

Ask to initialize a project and the skill runs a five-phase interview covering project identity, assurance level, toolchain, team roles, and project constraints. It then generates an AGENTS.md constitution from the bundled template and offers to scaffold the lifecycle directory structure.

Does using an AI coding assistant create a DO-330 tool qualification problem?▼

An AI agent producing deliverable code is a DO-330 Criterion 1 tool, but full qualification is avoided through compensating verification: all agent output receives 100% of the independent verification applied to human-written artifacts, so no process credit is claimed and qualification is not triggered.

How do I check traceability gaps in a safety-critical project?▼

Run the bundled trace_check.py script against the project root to find requirements with no implementing code, requirements with no test case, functions missing @req annotations, and citations of IDs that do not exist. A clean run is necessary but not sufficient, since it checks linkage rather than test quality.

What is needed to use COTS software in a DO-278A system?▼

DO-278A Section 12 requires a gap analysis comparing vendor evidence against the target assurance level's objectives, covering requirements docs, design docs, test results, CM process, and defect history. Missing evidence can be mitigated with integrator black-box testing, defensive wrappers, CAST-1 service experience, or an agreed Alternate Means of Compliance.

Can Agile methods be used with DO-178C?▼

Yes, the standards are lifecycle-model-agnostic and do not mandate waterfall. Agile is permitted provided phase-gate discipline, continuous traceability, defined baselines with change control, and verification independence are all maintained across sprints.

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